Alternative Picks for Each of the Survivor 50 Cast

I already gave my thoughts on the Survivor 50 cast, and while it's a decent cast and it should be a fun watch, I would have to say for a large majority of them, there is a player who I'd rather see, and most of those alternatives are people who would actually want to play again.  So in other words, I think they mostly got the cast wrong.  And I will do my best to pick a player of the same archetype or at least of the same gender, and even from the same era, although I'm going to replace a lot of New Era players with non-New Era players.  I'll go through and list an alternative for each player on 50, and then I'll rate it on a scale of 1-5.  Here's what the scale means:

1- I actually prefer who the producers chose, but not by a ton.
2- I'm okay either way.  Happy to see either choice.
3- I would kind of prefer to see my choice, but I understand.
4- I really prefer my choice.  I need an explanation, Jeffrey.
5- WTF why didn't they chose my person instead of theirs I'm so mad.

Player cast: Jenna Lewis-Dougherty - Borneo, All-Stars
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Jerri Manthey, Australian Outback, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains
Rating: 4
Comment: I'm guessing they really wanted someone from Borneo to have someone bookend 1 and 50, but I'd much rather have Jerri on my screen again than Jenna.  Besides, gotta have Jerri to go with Colby!

Player cast: Colby Donaldson - Australian Outback, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Rob Cesternino - Amazon, All-Stars
Rating: 4
Comment: How can they have Colby and not Jerri?  Sigh.  I know, Colby is one of the biggest names in Survivor history, but Rob Cesternino is up there as well, especially with RHAP.  

Player cast: Stephenie LaGrossa-Kendrick - Palau, Guatemala, Heroes vs. Villains
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Heidi Hamels (nee Strobel) - Amazon
Rating: 3
Comment: Funnily enough, these two both married MLB pitchers.  But I'd rather see Heidi, who I know has kept in good shape, since she hasn't returned yet, while Stephenie has twice.  But I undestand going for Stephenie as she is the bigger name.

Player cast: Cirie Fields - Panama: Exile Island, Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Amanda Kimmel - China, Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains
Rating: 3
Comment: Amanda is the only one of the Black Widow Brigade's F3 that hasn't played in recent years.  There were rumors she might return.  She did pop up recently with her real estate business in Montana.  But I guess she's done with the show.  

Player cast: Ozzy Lusth - Cook Islands, Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites, South Pacific, Game Changers
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Jonathan Penner - Cook Islands, Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites, Philippines
Rating: 4
Comment: Again, if we had to cast someone from Cook Islands and Micronesia, why not Penner?  I know he's older, but I know his story about his wife would touch everyone.  But Ozzy not being able to dominate in challenges anymore makes him just not as entertaining.

Player cast: Coach Wade - Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, South Pacific
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Stephen Fishbach - Tocantins, Cambodia: Second Chance
Rating: 2
Coach is the first casting that I probably wouldn't change.  But he's in his 50s, and I don't need a senile Coach.  Although that'd be entertaining.  I know Stephen has stayed in the community, appearing on RHAP, and I'd love to see him play again.

Player cast: Aubry Bracco - Kaoh Rong, Game Changers, Edge of Extinction
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Abi-Maria Gomes - Philippines, Cambodia: Second Chance
Rating: 4
Comment: Abi is such an entertaining villainess, and from her social media, we know she wanted to play again and was in the casting process.  Aubry to me isn't nearly as entertaining.  And we've seen Aubry one more time (now two more times) than Abi.

Player cast: Chrissy Hofbeck - Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Victoria Baamonde - Edge of Extinction
Rating: 3
Comment: Like I said in my previous post, the show basically owes Chrissy, but I think I'd rather see Victoria.  Not that she's the same archetype, but I think she's better TV, if slightly.  Plus, she's younger and easier on the eyes.

Player cast: Christian Hubicki - David vs. Goliath
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Devon Pinto
Rating: 1
Comment: I even struggled to think of someone for this.  Christian is 100% a good casting.  Devon, however, would be fun to see back, too.

Player cast: Angelina Keeley - David vs. Goliath
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Hannah Shapiro - Millennials vs. Gen X
Rating: 1
Comment: Again, I'm 100% ok with this casting.  Hannah, however, would have been an out of left field casting that I would appreciate.

Player cast: Mike White - David vs. Goliath
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Domenick Abbate - Ghost Island
Rating: 5
Comment: Jeff picking his friend over the only person to lose a tiebreaking FTC vote is certainly a choice.  Mike isn't a boring character, at least.  But Domenick would be so fun to see.

Player cast: Rick Devens - Edge of Extinction
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Dean Kowalski - Island of the Idols
Rating: 1
Comment: Again, no complaints.  Love seeing Devens back.  Dean was an underrated character who I was rooting for on his season, so there's that.

Player cast: Jonathan Young - 42
Who I'd maybe cast instead: David Kinne - 48
Rating: 2
Comment: I could go either way with these New Era challenge beasts.  Jonathan was more of a pre-merge challenge beast, while David did a little better with post-merge challenges.  I like David's strategic game a little more, though.  Oh well.

Player cast: Emily Flippen - 45
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Carolyn Wiger - 44
Rating: 4
Comment: I think I'm in the majority in saying Carolyn would be more interesting than Emily, although both are good TV.  I just wonder why they chose Emily over Carolyn.  Just seems puzzling.

Player cast: Dee Valladares - 45
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Kellie Nalbandian - 45
Rating: 3
First off, why two winners?  Feels weird.  But I think Kellie was a diamond in the rought (would greatly improve with a second chance), so maybe Kellie should wait for Second Chances 2, if they ever do that.

Player cast: Quintavius "Q" Burdette - 46
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Kaleb Gebrewold - 45
Rating: 2
Q is a great character, so I'm not complaining.  But I really want to see Kaleb back, as well.  But I will admit Q is a better character.  I'd just prefer to see Kaleb's gameplay.

Player cast: Charlie Davis - 46
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Austin Li Coon - 45
Rating: 2
Comment: I really liked 45's cast, I guess!  Both these guys lost a final tribal to a young female.  But if they were going to bring back Dee, I think they should've brought back Austin.  

Player cast: Tiffany Ervin - 46
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Shan Smith - 41
Rating: 5
Comment: Shan is a villain, with her own "Shanthem".  What does Tiffany bring?  Uh.... she got voted out with an idol?  She dealt with Q and Bhanu?  She's not a bad character or player, but it certainly is puzzling to say the least.

Player cast: Genevieve Mushaluk - 47
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Karla Cruz Godoy - 43
Rating: 3
Comment: First, 50 needs more queer representation.  But secondly, Karla was a more interesting character to me.  She wasn't purpled pre-merge like Genevieve was.  Plus, add another POC.

Player cast: Kyle Fraser - 48
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Jesse Lopez - 43
Rating: 5
Comment: Why did Kyle have to return so soon?  Doesn't make a ton of sense.  And how they didn't cast Jesse will puzzle me for a long time.  I really want to try to understand this, but I can't.

Player cast: Joe Hunter - 48
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Cody Assenmacher - 43
Rating: 4
Comment: Another from 43 I'd love to see again is Cody.  And he was more interesting than Joe.  As endearing?  Maybe not.  I just feel like in casting they were too biased towards the recent seasons.

Player cast: Kamilla Karthigesu - 48
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Maryanne Okech, 42
Rating: 2
Comment: Well, if we're going to bring back winners, why not Maryanne?  She was a very fun and likable winner.  Although I'm interested to see how Kamilla does on a quick second chance.

Player cast: Male 49 returning player
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Hunter McKnight, 46
Rating: 4
Comment: I'm not going to spoil who it is here (look it up if you want to know), but regardless of how that player is, I'd rather see Hunter.  I liked him.  Why the heck not?

Player cast: Female 49 returning player
Who I'd maybe cast instead: Star Toomey, 48
Rating: 3
Comment: If we're going to bring back players from 48, why not Star?  She was entertaining as all get-out, the few times she was on screen.  But we'll have to wait and see how a certain someone is on 49.

And now that I've gone over alternate picks, here's an alternate cast of 50.  I'm going to replace each player if I gave a 3 or higher.  If I gave a 1 or 2, I won't.

Males: 
Rob Cesternino
Jonathan Penner
Coach Wade
Christian Hubicki
Domenick Abbate
Rick Devens
Jonathan Young
Q Burdette
Charlie Davis
Jesse Lopez
Cody Assenmacher
Hunter McKnight

Females:
Jerri Manthey
Heidi Strobel
Amanda Kimmel
Abi-Maria Gomes
Victoria Baamonde
Angelina Keeley
Carolyn Wiger
Kellie Nalbandian
Shan Smith
Karla Cruz Godoy
Kamilla Karthigesu
Star Toomey

Now which cast is better, the actual 50 cast or my 50 cast?  Obviously, I think my own, but I'm still happy with the one they actually chose.  But there sure are some really good ones they missed out on.

My Survivor 50 Cast (Mostly New Era)

 Survivor 50 is scheduled to air around this time next year.  Crazy.  With that said, I thought I'd put together a cast that I would use for Survivor 50.  I'll take into account who production seems to like, and who doesn't want to play again (won't cast them).  Here are some ground rules I put together for myself:

• No more than 2 returning players for one season
• Only using casts from seasons 35-48.  34 was a returning players season, 33 and earlier have at least had a chance to return so far.  48 has not aired yet, but more on that later.
• Trying to cast 1 or more from each of the above seasons.  However, one season, 39, did not make the cut.  I think Survivor at this point is okay with not casting from EVERY season, especially considering what 39 is known for.
• Follow the diversity mandate, meaning half the cast has to be people of color (non-white).  
• No winners allowed.  I considered this a "Second Chance" type cast.  

With that said, I'm going to list the players, why I chose them, and who was close to making it but ultimately didn't.  And then at the end, I'll put together the tribes so that there aren't any players from the same original season on the same tribe.

Survivor 35 (Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers): Chrissy Hofbeck
Only Chrissy makes the cast from here.  She's still talked about with how well she did at challenges, and Survivor owes it to her to give her another chance after how they screwed her over with the surprise fire-making twist that allowed Ben to have another chance.  There wasn't really anyone else here I considered.  I'd like to see Devon Pinto again, but he said he'd only play again with his mom on a "Blood vs. Water" type season.  Ryan Ulrich loses out to a nerd from two seasons later.

Survivor 36 (Ghost Island): Dominic Abbate
Dominic is the only player to lose on a tie-breaking final vote.  How can he not be brought back?  The only other player I somewhat considered was Michael Yerger, who I liked but likely has been forgotten about at this point.  He could be a dark-horse candidate, but the problem is, there's already a ton of white males to choose from.

Survivor 37 (David vs. Goliath): Christian Hubicki and Angelina Keeley
Christian remains one of the game's biggest fan favorites.  Imagine him dissecting strategy with some other All-Stars.  Angelina comes back solely for the memes but also because Jeff loves her.  Let's hope for another Natalie/coat situation or another rice negotiation from Angelina.  I considered Gabby Pascuzzi and John Hennigan, but Christian and Angelina beat them out.

Survivor 38 (Edge of Extinction): Rick Devens
How could he not be brought back?  He was so close to a win, he's great TV, and he's clearly liked by production as he was a co-host of the On Fire podcast.  I also considered Victoria Baamonde, who was a last-minute cut because I needed to abide by the diversity mandate.

Survivor 39 (Island of the Idols): No one
As mentioned above, no one made it from this cast.  Like I said, I think production would be okay to completely ignore this season.  I considered Elaine, who was closest.  I really like Janet, but she was involved with the Dan Spilo incident, albeit not in a bad way, but I know production wants to steer very clear of it.  She's also a bit on the older side.

Survivor 41: Shantel "Shan" Smith
She has her own theme song.  I can see production incorporating that into their promos for 50.  How could they not?  She's made some comments that I don't think production really liked, but she's still talked about in Survivor circles.  I considered Ricard, but there are too many males that I'd want to see more than him.

Survivor 42: Omar Zaheer
I could be wrong, but I think they're more likely to cast strategic and social masterminds rather than physical players, which is why I chose Omar over his Taku tribemate, Jonathan.  I'd love to see Jonathan beast challenges again, but we know he's got zero shot to actually win the game against all-star strategists.  I also considered Mike and Lindsay, who fell short as well.

Survivor 43: Jesse Lopez and Karla Cruz Godoy
I so badly wanted both Jesse AND Cody, but I couldn't fit Cody.  Maybe production can.  But at least I have Jesse, who is my personal favorite strategist of the New Era.  I also included Karla, who I think could learn and improve upon her first game, which started very strong but fizzled out toward the end.  Both also fulfill the diversity mandate.  

Survivor 44: Carolyn Wiger and Lauren Harpe
This is the only time I cast two of the same gender from the same season.  Carolyn is an obvious choice.  Production might not like her ties to Carson or her appearance on The Traitors (on a rival network), but she is on the New Era Mount Rushmore of characters.  And Lauren might seem like a weird pick, which it maybe is, but she was a dark horse on her season who other players said would likely win if she gets to the end (at least against anyone except Yam-Yam).  I also considered Carson, but production doesn't love him anymore.  Plus, I don't need more white males.

Survivor 45: Kaleb Gebrewold and Kellie Nalbandian
Weird how my two picks from this season were the first two jury members.  Kaleb was a fan favorite, had a legendary shot in the dark play, and likely fares better when there are other threats he's playing with.  Kellie might also seem like an odd pick, but she had a pretty legendary blindside, and the Survivor community and production seem to love her.  She's got a good mind for the game, which is what led to her ouster.  She could definitely showcase her strategic chops on a second try.

Survivor 46: Q Burdette
I wanted to include a second, but there was no room.  Q had to make it, being the legendary character he is.  It'd be a big mistake not to bring him back.  I considered Charlie, but as I've said, there were too many white males ahead of him.  I also considered Venus, Hunter, and Tiffany.

Survivor 47: Andy Rueda and Genevieve Mushaluk
I'm pretty sure Jeff hinted to already asking Andy to come back for 50.  So he has to make it.  Gen, meanwhile, was such a great female powerhouse and I think could shine on an all-star cast.   Sure, she didn't get the greatest edit in the world early on, but a lot of great female players didn't.  

Survivor 48: One male, one female
In order to make my complete cast, one man and one woman from this season makes it onto 50.  I'm not sure who.  I'm not going to even fathom a guess at this point.  But in order to abide by the diversity mandate, one has to be a person of color.  I'll update here once 48 is at least close to over.  If I don't like two people enough to be on 50, I'll go back and add someone from a prior season.  

My actual picks from 48: David Kinne and Kamilla Karthigesu
So my picks from this season are David and Kamilla.  I know the rumors are Joe and Sai, but I think I'd rather see David and Kamilla.  David would certainly learn from his first game, and it'd be fun to watch him dominate challenges again.  And Kamilla played a great game but just fell short due to losing at fire-making.

Survivor 49: No one
49 will air in the fall of 2025, and I feel like that's not enough time for production to gauge the reaction of the cast there.  Plus, they probably want to avoid back-to-back seasons, although they've done that several times before when the seasons were 39 days.  But the cast of 50 is very likely going to be announced before we see 49 (or at least, finish 49).  So the players from 49 will have to hope for a returning players season after 50 that they can get a second chance on.

So that makes 18 players.  I know a lot of people think they might up the amount of players to 20 for Season 50, but they seem so infatuated with the three tribe format.  I don't see it changing, even for 50.  Here is my 18-player, 3-tribe cast, keeping duplicates from the same season on different tribes and trying to balance them out for challenge strength:

RED TRIBE
Dominic Abbate, 36
Jesse Lopez, 43
David Kinne, 48
Angelina Keely, 37
Shan Smith, 41
Kellie Nalbandian, 45

BLUE TRIBE
Rick Devens, 38
Omar Zaheer, 42
Kaleb Gebrewold, 45
Karla Cruz Godoy, 43
Carolyn Wiger, 44
Genevieve Mushaluk, 47

GREEN TRIBE
Christian Hubicki, 37
Q Burdette, 46
Andy Rueda, 47
Chrissy Hofbeck, 35
Lauren Harpe, 44
Kamilla Karthigesu, 48

Oh man, what a cast!  I'll be interested to see how this compares to the actual cast of 50.  And again, once 48 is over or close to over, I will put in my two picks from that season here.  

I made a Brant Steele simulation of this season.  Here it is to simulate. https://brantsteele.com/survivor/32/r.php?c=G53zz0Xh

Ten Survivor Season Ideas

With Survivor 44 just around the corner, I thought it'd be fun to do another Survivor blog post.  I know Survivor is in a new era, and so far, it seems like they're solely focusing on newbie casts only with no themes.  I think they're going to have to return to either returnee or themed seasons (or both) again someday, just to increase intrigue for seasons.  Constantly continuing with newbie casts and numbered seasons is not going to keep Survivor fresh, and fans are going to tire of it quickly.  So, here are five returnee player seasons and five themed casts for newbie seasons that I'd suggest they use.  I won't do any "sequels" to a returnee player season, such as "Second Chances 2", because that would be too easy.


Returnee Player Seasons

1. Old School vs. New School
It would be interesting to see a New School vs. Old School season.  The Old School Survivors wouldn't have to all be from older seasons, because we've had some Old School type players in fairly recent seasons.  Same applies for some New School players from some older seasons.  Or alternatively, they could have this be players from seasons before Season 40 vs. players from seasons after Season 40.

2. One Last Chance
All of these players playing this season would verbally commit to saying this is their final season, whether it be their 2nd time playing or their 3rd or 4th.  Like Winners at War, it would give a lot of legends (Cirie?  Ozzy?  Russell Hantz?) a chance to bid farewell to the show.  I'd much prefer this over a season simply titled "Legends".  At least with this, we can get some closure on some Survivor legends for sure.

3. Pre-Merge vs. Post-Merge
If they want to stick to picking returning players from just the 40s, one idea they could do is to have a tribe of pre-merge boots against a tribe of post-merge boots.  Just two seasons into this new format and we already have a handful of possible pre-merge boot returnee players such as Brad, JD, Daniel, Jenny, and Zach.  Two more seasons, and we'll have enough for an entire tribe.  Also, this would be titled something else (such as Second Chance 2), but the tribes would be divided based on where people got voted out their first time playing.

4. Social vs. Strategy
This is kind of a lame idea and needs some help with regards to marketing, but my idea is to put one tribe of players that relied on social games--Michele Fitzgerald, Cirie, Tommy, etc. against a tribe of players that focused on advantages and strategy, such as Drea, Jesse, and Devens.  It would be interesting to see the strategy tribe fight for advantages and see how well the social tribe gets along.  And of course, it would be interesting which "strategy" would come out on top.

5. Rivals
This has been talked about for a long time, but a rivals season is definitely a possibility.  Rather than split the rivals up on separate tribes, I think you put them on the same tribe.  Putting them on separate tribes only increases the chance that we won't have many rival pairs left come the merge.  Also, these rivalries would have to have some sort of requirement, such as one player had to have voted out the other.  Think Chris and Dom, Jay and Michaela, etc.  It would be interesting to see if the rival pairs would set aside their differences and work together or if they would target each other immediately. 


Themed Cast for Newbie Seasons

1. Teachers vs. Students
Survivor loves it's "_____ vs. ____" type-seasons, such as "David vs. Goliath" and "Millennials vs. Gen X".  Those two have been two of their more successful seasons in the past 10 years.  I'd suggest a Teachers vs. Students season.  The Teachers tribe wouldn't have to be fully comprised of people that are in a teaching profession (Although I'd recommend about half).  They could also be comprised of people that train others for a living (managers, bosses, etc.).  The Students tribe also wouldn't be fully comprised of actual students currently enrolled in school, but it could be people learning a profession or people who are apprentices or new to their occupation.  Yes, the Teachers tribe would generally be older, but I'm sure they could find some older students and younger teachers to help even things out.

2. Salute to Armed Forces
Survivor should do a season comprised entirely of veterans from various branches of the military.  I think it would add some intrigue, and maybe some alliances of people from the same branch.  They've cast many veterans throughout the years.  My one concern is whether they would have enough female veteran applicants.  They might have to do a bit of recruiting.  One idea I had is this could be a captain-type season, with maybe Ben Driebergen leading one tribe, and Angela from Ghost Island leading the other tribe.

3. Celebrity Edition
I've wanted a Celebrity Edition of Survivor for so long.  I'd be okay if they were given a decent amount of food and habitable living conditions, especially if each celebrity was playing for charity.  Who wouldn't want to see celebrities lie, scheme, and betray each other?  I know they did "Beyond the Edge," which had celebrities, but that wasn't Survivor.  There are plenty of celebrity Survivor fans that would be willing to do this.

4. Kids vs. Parents
I know Survivor loves to lean into the Blood vs. Water storylines, so why not fully?  Why not have a season where one tribe is a tribe of parents and the other tribe is their kids?  This could maybe even be where they lower the age restriction a bit (to 16 or 17).  But the kids' tribe would have to have some older "kids". Otherwise, they would struggle to build a camp and get food.

5. Connections to the Past
Think Blood vs. Water, but without returning players.  Each player cast is someone related to a former Survivor player.  I would love it if they did this but then didn't tell the players that anyone else is related to a Survivor player.  The hard part would be getting 16-20 players who don't recognize each other, as former players often hang out, share photos, etc.  But imagine someone letting slip they're related to a former Survivor player, and then someone else confessing to them, etc.  Bonds or rivalries could form over this.  It would be very interesting to see how and when players would reveal their connections.  

Well, those are the 10 theme suggestions I have for Survivor; hopefully they use one of these someday!  I might come back and comment on it if they do.  

My Dream Survivor Returnee Season

Being such a huge fan of the TV series, Survivor, I have developed a certain liking for some players.  One of the things I love most about Survivor is that they have returning player seasons.  There's been All-Stars, Fans vs. Favorites (twice), Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers, and Second Chance.  

I'm just going to compile a list of 20 Survivors I most want to see play again.  I am sort of taking into consideration the likeliness of them ever playing again, but not entirely.  This is my dream cast, and I know a majority of these players will never play again.  There's some on this list that literally have either said they'll never play again or that production just would never bring back.  But hey, it's my dream cast, so I'll put in here who I want.

Anyway, I cast 10 men and 10 women, and divided them up into two tribes.  Some have played the game only once, some have played two or even three times.  I did my best to divide up the tribes evenly and so that players from the same season were not on the same tribe.  Here they are, in the order of their first season:

Tribe 1
Theresa "T-Bird" Cooper, Africa
It's a huge shame T-Bird has not been back yet.  She was on the Second Chance ballot but just missed out.  Is she still young enough to play?  I'd like to think so.  She's still active in the Survivor community.  Bring T-Bird back!

Heidi Hamels, Amazon
Formerly Heidi Strobel, Heidi Hamels would be a very interesting returnee, I think.  She's married (to former MLB pitcher Cole Hamels) with kids, but she keeps in good shape, as can be seen in her social media posts.  I'd love to see how much she's grown from her first season.  

Terry Dietz, Panama/Exile Island and Second Chance
Terry did get his second chance, but it was cut short.  It's such a shame.  It seemed like he was adjusting fairly well to the modern game.  I would love to see Dietz get a legit second chance.  But it would have to be soon, before he gets too old.

Earl Cole, Fiji
I decided to cast two total winners, one for each tribe.  I wish Earl had been on Winners at War, but I think he had just had a kid.  He's one of the most well-liked winners of all time, and is one throwaway vote away from playing a perfect game.  How can they not ever bring someone like that back?

Ciera Eastin, Blood vs. Water, Second Chance, Game Changers
But she voted out her mom!  Haha, jokes aside, I'd love to see Ciera get one more chance.  She's unfortunately got the combination of manipulative and not great at challenges, so she's a possible early boot every time (as we saw on Game Changers).  But perhaps she'd ingratiate herself better a fourth time.

Baylor Wilson, San Juan Del Sur
I'd really like to see how Baylor does without her mom.  We've seen Ciera without her mom.  Would Baylor be anywhere near as ruthless?  Not likely, but you never know.  

Carolyn Rivera, Worlds Apart
"Mama C" as she is affectionately called, should definitely return.  She definitely wants to, as heard on the YouTube series Top 100 Survivors of all time.  She could be an early boot, but I think she'd make a fairly quick connection and avoid that.

Jay Byars, Millennials vs. Gen X
Jay made one of the boldest moves (maybe ever) when he blindsided Michaela.  He's willing to take risks, that's for sure.  I'd love to see Jay again.  He's also great for content, as he got fooled with a fake immunity idol.  

Christian Hubicki, David vs. Goliath
Christian is an almost lock to return if he wants to (really doesn't matter the type of returnee season).  He's a fan favorite and his quirkiness and intelligence is great for TV.  

Rick Devens, Edge of Extinction
Yet another lock to return if he wants is Rick Devens.  He makes for such good TV.  Him and Christian possibly interacting would just be *chefs kiss*.  

Tribe 2
Rob Cesternino, Amazon and All-Stars
We unfortunately didn't get to see much of Rob in All-Stars, as he could never gain traction with his original tribe and was an early boot.  I know he'll more than likely never play again, but imagine if he did, and imagine if he and Heidi made the merge or got swapped to the same tribe.  That would certainly be interesting to see.

Ian Rosenberger, Palau
I believe Ian has said he will not play again, but man I'd love to see him back.  He would've been a great addition to Micronesia or Heroes vs. Villains (as a Hero, duh).  Ian's one of my favorite players of all time and seeing him step down from that pole at the Final 3 Immunity of Palau breaks my heart every time.

Michael "Frosti" Zernow, China
Sure, he's not the absolute best character, even from his season, but Frosti is definitely still young enough to play, and I'd love to see how he adapts to the modern game.  He unfortunately got put on the worse "Zhan Hu" tribe in China and could never recover from his tribe's awful challenge performances.

Natalie White, Samoa
Unfortunately, as far as social media presences go for Survivor winners, Natalie's basically vanished and become invisible.  Apparently she's married and settled down, but there's not really any recent pictures of her online anywhere.  I would love to see her play again, outside of Russell Hantz's shadow, to prove she can legitimately play this game.

Marty Piombo, Nicaragua
It's a shame Marty hasn't been brought back yet, and it might be too late.  He should have been for Caramoan, Second Chance, or even Game Changers.  No male cast member from Nicaragua has come back, and it should have been him.  Would love to see him interact with other masterminds in this game.

Kelley Wentworth, San Juan Del Sur, Second Chance, Edge of Extinction
Have we seen the last of Wentworth?  Hmm... hard to say.  But I'd love to see her play one more time.  She's only had a legit shot one time in Second Chance, and she was playing from the bottom.  I think she'd do well on another all-returnee season.  

Michaela Bradshaw, Millennials vs. Gen X and Game Changers
I would love to see Michaela one more time, especially if she were to play on the same season as Jay and possibly get her revenge.  She gives great confessionals and she's great at challenges, too.  

Dominic Abbate, Ghost Island
Dominic is an almost lock to return if he wants to.  His storyline of being one tiebreaking vote away from winning is just too good to pass up.  He might be an early boot for being a strategic threat, but it certainly would be interesting to see.

Gabby Pascuzzi, David vs. Goliath
The Yin to Christian's Yang (or vice versa), Gabby would be an interesting returnee, especially to see her play against Christian, at least at first.  I think she has the ability to be cutthroat if need be, and possibly partner with a Marty or Dominic and do some damage.

Janet Carbin, Island of the Idols
Janet surprised me on IotI by how athletic she is.  She also played a great social game, but perhaps too great.  I could see her sliding by and making tons of connections.  I just would love to see her play again.

Well, there you have it.  My dream cast Survivor season.  I may update this someday if I ever lost interest in someone, or if someone new comes along that I have to see again.  

My Thoughts on the Cast of Star Wars Episode VII and the Roles I think They'll Play

The filming for Star Wars Episode VII is underway, with pretty much all of the principal cast having been announced.  The cast includes Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow, Oscar Isaac, and recently announced Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendolyn Christie.  I really like this cast.  I don't think it's perfect, but I'll hold my judgment for after having seen the film.  So for now, since no plot or character names have been revealed, I will predict the role each actor will have to see how close I get. 

Adam Driver: Main Bad Guy/Sith (Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus?)
Adam Driver has been rumored to be cast as the main villain, so I'll go with that.  Obviously, it would be near impossible for his character to compare to the legendary Darth Vader, but if he comes close, his acting and JJ/Kasdan's writing will be well-commended.  If I wrote the script, however, I would have Adam eventually be revealed to be the son of Han and Leia.  In the expanded universe novels, one of Han and Leia's sons (they had two sons and a daughter) turns to the dark side.  I would love to see Adam reveal to someone (his sister...?) that he is their brother.  If he is a bad guy, he will more than likely be a Sith and fight a few lightsaber battles. 

Daisy Ridley: Lead female, daughter of Han and Leia (Jaina Solo?)
Daisy Ridley is one of the unknowns to be cast, and seeing as the bears a resemblance to Carrie Fisher as well as the fact that in the cast release photo, seen below, she is in between Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, I believe she will be playing their daughter.  Also, I'd like to point out each Star Wars trilogy has had a trio be the main stars, which included two guys and a girl (Han, Luke and Leia for the original trilogy, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme for the prequel trilogy).  I think she'll definitely be the girl in the trio for this trilogy, more than likely continuing down the female line of Skywalkers. 

John Boyega: Member of trio, descendant of Mace/Lando?
John Boyega, another unknown (at least to me) cast, has a role that is hard to predict.  He is rumored to be one of the stars, so I'm guessing a good guy and one of the trio.  To add to his character, I think he'll be either a descendant of Mace Windu (Great-nephew?) or Lando Calrissian (Son/Nephew/Grandson).  He's got to have some connection to the rest of the characters, so being a relative of Lando's would be the most logical choice.  The fact that Billy Dee Williams has yet to be cast might mean the character of Lando is dead for this trilogy, meaning Boyega might be seeking vengeance or redemption.  But, if he's a Jedi, the most logical thing would be to have him be a descendant of Mace Windu.  I just can't pinpoint it. 

Domhnall Gleeson: Luke's son (Ben Skywalker?)
I love Dohnall Gleeson.  He was awesome in Harry Potter and he was brilliant in About Time.  He will make a fantastic addition to the cast.  His role is slightly hard to predict, but I'm going to go on a limb here.  I predict he will be Luke Skywalker's son, therefore completing the trio with Ridley and Boyega.  I could be completely wrong and his role could be just as a supporting character, like Bail Organa was in the prequel trilogy.  But the resemblance with his actor-father Mark Hamill is there, albeit slightly, and what's a Star Wars movie without a Skywalker as part of the main cast? 

Andy Serkis: Alien Creature (Bothan?)
Andy is arguably the best motion capture actor today, playing Gollum, King Kong, and Caesar from Planet of the Apes.  So it would be safe to assume he'd have another motion caption role.  Since this is a Star Wars film, he'll probably be an alien creature.  If I had to pick a species from the Star Wars universe, I'd say he'll play a Bothan, because they were mentioned in the original trilogy, but never shown.  Andy Serkis isn't tall enough to play a Wookiee, so that's not really a possibility.  He won't be the lead star of the film, but his role certainly will be interesting and will more than likely use the best in technology available.

Max Von Sydow: Evil Leader (that is killed off)
Many legendary actors have appeared in Star Wars, from Peter Cushing to Alec Guinness to Christopher Lee.  Most of them have played bad guys.  My best guess is that Max too will play a bad guy.  I think his role will be similar to Peter Cushing's in A New Hope.  He'll only be in one film and be killed off, but he will have an evil presence.  Someone is bound to arise 30 years after the fall of the Empire to try to bring it back, and maybe that could be Max's character that leads it.  I am pretty confident that they will kill off Max's character in Episode VII, because of Max's age and not wanting to commit to him for a full trilogy. 

Oscar Isaac: Evil apprentice
It is very hard to pinpoint what Oscar Isaac's role will be.  I loved him in Inside Llewyn Davis, but I don't think he'll have that large of a role for the new trilogy.  I think he'll be like a Darth Maul/General Grievous type villain, not really being the main villain but certainly one the heroes will have trouble with.  I would guess that he will also be a Sith and not just an Imperial Officer or anything.  I'll just say he'll be Adam Driver's apprentice that is probably killed off before Adam, but hopefully not in Episode VII.

Lupita Nyong'o: Asajj Ventress

One of the more recent additions to the cast was Lupita Nyong'o, the Oscar-winning actress from 12 Years a Slave.  There have been rumors that she could play Asajj Ventress, one of the main villains from the Star Wars The Clone Wars TV series.  I'll go with the rumors yet again, feeling that I might be wrong this time.  Asajj Ventress would be quite a few years older (approximately 60 years have passed since the Clone Wars).  But they curiously did not kill off Ventress in that series, because perhaps they were saving her for something else.  I could be wrong and Lupita could end up playing a descendant of Mace Windu or Lando Calrissian, or an entirely new character, but whatever role she has will be a very interesting one.

Gwendolyn Christie: Mon Mothma-type leader
I haven't seen Game of Thrones (yet) or anything else Gwendolyn Christie has been in, so it's hard to say what she's capable of as an actress.  She's more than likely playing a supporting character, and I will predict she'll play a role very similar to Caroline Blakiston/Mon Mothma in Return of the Jedi.  She could even play her daughter or granddaughter.

Well, those are my thoughts on the cast and predictions for the roles they'll have.  Things will start to become clearer as things get leaked or announcements are made about the plot or characters.  I'm going to go back to this post after having seen Episode VII and see how bad or good I was at predicting the characters for each of the actors.  I can't wait!